Scanning the Elevator Lobby, Dyon saw quite a few. Each seemed to have its own floor cap, and Dyon assumed that only the elevators able to reach the top floor would lead to the VIP areas.
From what he knew about the Chaos Arenas, there were many fighting stages. However, that was only when the fights had little investment attached to them. It would essentially be like a free for all, where even ten or more battles could be taking place at once.
Within Chaos Arena, there were of course rankings separated by cultivation level that many fought to improve in.
It was also likely that with the world tournament happening, the Cavositas God Clan would put some special events in place. This would mean that maybe the free for all would only be appetizers for some lucrative main events.
With a smile, Dyon and Ri walked to an elevator at the far end of large lobby. It, unsurprisingly, had the fewest people hovering around it, waiting for the receptionist to let them in.
“Why can’t we go in! I’ll have you know my father is a reputable official in the Royal God Clan Bank. I have no need to be a member of the main clan to go in! I’ve been here before!”
A young man’s face burned in a rage as he bared down on a deadpan young lady. She didn’t seem too impressed by his display. After years of dealing with the most prestigious clans and young masters and mistresses there were, the idea of dealing with the son of a mere banker didn’t seem all that daunting to her.
“I’ve already explained. Unless you are among the top 100 cumulative rankers, or a plus one of them, you won’t be allowed in to the VIP area for the foreseeable future. The only exception is if you happen to have the cultivation of a saint, which you clearly don’t. If you don’t want to have to deal with our security, it’s best that you leave.”
The young man trembled, but it seemed to be more in embarrassment than anything else. He had promised his friends to bring them to the VIP area. In fact, he had even brought a young last he was trying to win over. And yet now, here he was, being embarrassed by some no-name.
Dyon and Ri remained silent, waiting for their turn. Although Ri had wanted to pull back after she heard the requirements, Dyon simply winked at her causing her to look at him in confusion.
Top 100 rankers was already hard enough to reach. But, top 100 in the cumulative rankings was an entirely different beast.
The cumulative rankings took into account not just Earth, but the other four planets as well. Which meant, unless you were in the top 20 in you universe, it was unlikely that you’d make the cumulative rankings.
The truth was that Dyon had no idea what their rankings were. In fact, he hadn’t even gotten a chance to ask Ri how the rankings worked. But, he wanted to use this opportunity to see if he could catch a glance at the list. He was interested in knowing if he or Ri had done enough.
Seeing that he wasn’t getting anywhere, the young man turned back to leave, unwilling to have to deal with the Cavositas family. Although the security would be low ranking members of their family, they would still be a lot more powerful than he or his friends could handle.
But, when he turned back to see his supposed friends snickering behind his back, his anger rose to a new level.
His fists and jaw clenched as he walked away, heading toward another elevator. Well, that was until he noticed Dyon and Ri standing nearby behind him, chatting away happily.
Although his eyes sparkled when he saw Ri, much to the anger of the woman he had had been trying to woo, what he was really focused on was Dyon.
He, the son of a high-ranking man, had been forced to leave. And yet, there was this kid he had never seen here?
At first, he thought that maybe Dyon was from another planet. That would explain why he had never seen him before. But, he sensed no cultivation from Dyon. So, even if he was from another universe, there was no way he’d be in the top 100.
Seeing an opportunity to relieve some of his frustration, the young man sneered. “Didn’t you hear what the receptionist said? If I can’t get in, what made you think it was your turn?”
The young man puffed out his chest, seemingly trying to seem superior to impress not only his date, but hopefully pull Ri into his friend group as well.
“Don’t worry young lady. Although I’m not allowed to enter the VIP areas now, there are other high-level areas that haven’t been closed off to me. I can bring you to the sub-VIP layers.”
Dyon said nothing, instead looking at Ri’s reaction with amusement playing his features. She was his little feu glace for a reason, this young man was digging out his own grave.
“Fuck off.” Ri glared at the young man before ignoring him and pulling Dyon along to the receptionist.
The young man could only watch with a stunned look on his face as Dyon’s shoulder just barely brushed past his. He hesitated, a look of embarrassment reddening his features as he went to reach out.
But then, he suddenly felt like he had fallen into an abyss of hell.
Dyon shot a glance behind him as he walked forward with Ri, a faint demonic will dripping from him.
The young man’s knees buckled as he almost lost his balance. He didn’t understand what was going on. Why did he feel as though the young man in front of him was unfathomable?
However, he didn’t get a chance to think of it any more. Dyon treated him as though he was just passing over a bug he didn’t feel like going out of his way to crush.
There’s always a mountain beyond a mountain and a sky beyond the sky… It wasn’t until that moment that the young man understood.
Reaching the podium, Dyon noticed a faint look of interest on the receptionist’s face. She rarely saw men as handsome as Dyon, but that wasn’t what captured her. There seemed to be something deeper about him. A fact that wasn’t lost on someone like her who dealt with a lot of fakes everyday.
However, when she noticed Ri’s raised eyebrow at her gaze, she could only shift away from Dyon with a faint red blushing her cheeks.
Dyon smiled, pretending not to notice that small interaction. Ri probably wouldn’t normally be so territorial, but it seemed a lot of things had subtly shifted with the full awakening of her faith seed. A female beast would definitely be a lot more protective.
Clearing her throat awkwardly, the receptionist began her introduction, “As you probably heard, we aren’t allowing non-saint experts in unless you’ve reached the top 100 of the cumulative rankings. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
Dyon nodded before his eyes flashed in gold.
Ri blinked, noticing what Dyon had done. With her awakened aurora, and Dyon not particularly trying to hide it from her, she had noticed him shift his tracker from himself to her while changing the name back to Alexandria Acacia.
Immediately realizing what Dyon meant, Ri nodded. “Can you check for us please, we’re honestly not sure.”
The receptionist tilted her head in confusion. Who wouldn’t be aware of something to outstanding? Being among the top 100 was a great honor and something families would be pining over. Was it really possible for not one, but two people to be unaware of such a thing?
That said, she had no way of knowing that Ri had spent the last few weeks sleeping and that Dyon had been accompanying her. Ri couldn’t check, and Dyon wasn’t in a mind state to care.
However, the receptionist suddenly remembered a commotion that had happened after the end of the most recent campaign. There had been a few new names, but maybe the most shocking was that the largest leap in ranking history had occurred. And the worst part? No one had ever heard of them.
That’s right… It hadn’t been one person with a record-breaking leap… The record had been broken by again and again and then yet again. More than ten people had had unprecedented leaps, and many of them were unknowns. On top of that, it seemed that many of them were from this very universe and two of them had names no one had ever heard of.
Clearing her throat again, the receptionist asked a probing question, “What clan do you represent?…”
Ri brought her hand to her hair, lightly sweeping it behind her ear to reveal a pointed ear that may not have been as long as some other elves but was definitely much more pointed than it would be for a human.
“I represent the Acacia family of the Elvin Kingdom.” Ri said with a light smile.
Suddenly, the sound of a dull thump resounded behind Ri and Dyon.
Looking back, Dyon raised an eyebrow as he noticed the young man that had been annoying them before hand had fallen to his knees. ‘What’s wrong with this guy?’
But, when he looked back, he noticed that the receptionist had paled.
“W-What’s y-your name?” The normally calm receptionist seemed to have lost all semblance of her once cool personality. She couldn’t help but shift her gaze away from Ri, staring at a screen on the podium she stood behind.
Ri tilted her head in confusion, but still answered. “Alexandria Acacia.”
Dyon’s eyes turn a gold flecked with red and purple for an instant as he scanned through the podium and at the list the receptionist was looking down, quickly memorizing it.
A light laugh escaped Dyon, “It seems my little feu glace is quite amazing.”
The eyes of the receptionist widened at Dyon’s form of address. ‘He gave the princess of the Elvin Kingdom a pet name? Who is he? Could he be?…’
“I-I’m sorry to ask this, but I need to use your tracker as confirmation or else I won’t be able to open the elevator door for you and your…”
“Husband.” Ri smiled, seemingly prouder about her answer to the receptionist than she had been about the reactions she was getting.
Ri had long since stopped calling Dyon her fiancé. In the Martial World, there weren’t as many legal bindings on husband and wife and usually only consummation was necessary. However, even that was more socially constructed than concrete fact. As long as two accepted each other, that was enough.
With how many planets and universes there were, it was impossible to maintain a singular and uniform system. Knowing this, Dyon had accepted and stepped into the role happily.
Suddenly, with Ri’s words, the lobby quietened significantly. People had already been paying attention due to the yelling young man, but with Ri’s reveal as the Elvin Princess, many finally got to put a face to her legend.
Alexandria Acacia. The only woman other than Madeleine Sapientia that had burst onto Earth’s ranking list during her first campaign.
Alexandria Acacia. The princess to an Elvin Kingdom that had once rivaled the Belmont family.
Alexandria Acacia. The daughter to a man many thought was the most powerful in this universe…
She hadn’t appeared in more than decade, but here she was. And she had no only appeared by herself, but with a young man of near unmatched aura… A young man she called her husband.
In a lot of ways people were as curious about who Dyon was as they were about Ri.
But, all thought of Dyon was completely erased when eyes finally landed on Ri. The room suddenly lost a collective breath and the hearts of many skipped…
Many never thought they’d ever see a beauty to rival Madeleine. And yet, in just the past few days, they had seen four others. And now, Ri made the fifth. The five beauties of the universe had suddenly becoming a domineering six…
The receptionist didn’t seem to know what to do with herself anymore.
If Ri was in the top 100, that would already be hard enough to accept. But her rank? It just didn’t make any sense. And for her to reach that rank after just a single campaign?… It was unprecedented.
Stories of this past campaign had been spreading like wild fire. In fact, the receptionist even knew the name of the young man, or what his name should be – Dyon Sacharro. But, his name wasn’t on the list! Only Ri’s was!
‘There were so many stories about him though… Were they exaggerated?…’
Dyon didn’t seem to mind the receptionist’s scrutiny of him. Only a few people knew what name he campaigned under and only Ri knew what he had done to earn the rank he sat at now.
With a smile, Dyon brought Ri into the elevator, ignoring the stares as the black doors closed and they began moving slowly upward.
Unable to hold in her curiosity, Ri looked up at Dyon with her blue-silver eyes, seemingly questioning him with her gaze.
Dyon grinned, “You want to know what rank you are?”
“I want to know what rank you are.” Ri said seriously. She was well aware that whatever rank she had was due to Dyon siphoning away his deeds to her. She didn’t like that.
No one knew more than Madeleine and Ri how important stamping his name down on the Martial was to Dyon. It was Dyon’s goal to leave the biggest impact in memory of his parents.
Ri didn’t have a goal like that, she only wanted to find her father and mother to complete her family. Something like rank didn’t matter to her. And yet, Dyon had still done what he did.
Dyon wiggled his arm out of Ri’s grasp to wrap his hand around her slim and curved waist, “I’ve changed my perspective on a lot of things,” Dyon said softly.
“Even before this campaign started, I decided to campaign under the name Demon Sage, not to hide myself away, but to repay a man that gave up a lot for me. I owe a lot of people a lot of things, and although I won’t take the demon sage as my master, I still feel the need to repay him by taking up his name.
Demon Sage wasn’t his original name. It was a title he gave himself in self-mockery. He was a man who wanted to do good but ended up sacrificing almost everyone important to himself to do so.
I don’t take up the Demon Sage title to follow in his footsteps. It’s as a thank you for the reminder he gives me. A reminder that I’m still trying my best to remember everyday.
I want to save all those dear to me, but I have to do it the right way. I have to be reflective on the consequences of my actions, and aware that maybe a win for me, isn’t necessarily a win for everyone else.”
Dyon shifted himself to stand in front of Ri as the elevator continued to slowly make itself upward, sliding his hands to rest on her hips.
“However, at the same time, I also don’t want the people who I care for to get lost in the nonsense of it all. The points I siphoned to you is nothing more or less than what you deserve.
You spent months fighting with no rest. Slaying tens of thousands of basilisks on your own despite your disparity in cultivation. I only gave you the points you didn’t have a tracker to count for you.”
Ri listened silently to Dyon’s words, lost in the passion of his eyes as her small hands rested on his chest.
“Alright,” She said softly, “Then what ranks are we?”
A playful smiled appeared on Dyon features, “My little feu glance is in the top 30.”
Ri blinked, “Top 30?” Suddenly Ri lightly pounded Dyon’s chest with her small fists. “You liar! You said you didn’t give me any more than what I earned!”
Dyon chuckled, “I really didn’t! I swear!”
What Ri had forgotten was how much the battle with the Phantus clan had swung things for degree of difficulty. Not only were the Scaled Elephants ranked highly in difficult beasts to kill, Ri had played a key part in taking down eleven of them simultaneously.
Then, with barely over a hundred other allies, Ri had survived the onslaught on hundreds of thousands of basilisks. In that span of time, those hundred had cut down the nearly four hundred thousand basilisks to a mere ninety thousand. And, Ri herself? She had been responsible for the death of at least twenty thousand. Because of the focus the army placed on the demon generals, Ri usually had much more freedom to maneuver. But, that wasn’t even the most potent point. With Ri’s void will, dealing with large numbers was vastly easier for than others.
So, when Dyon had come back to save her, those tens of thousands of basilisks he had taken out were all slid under Ri’s name. With the additional boost provided by causing the retreat of the Uidah King God Clan, Ri might have gotten a slight boost, but not large enough for a drastic rank change.
In the end, Dyon had stuck to his word. He really did only give Ri was she earned. However, to avoid having to do this on a later date, he used the configuration of his own tracker, to make on for Ri as well.
Thinking of something, Ri stopped hitting Dyon, “Wait. If I’m top 30, what about you? You know what, forget you, what about Big Sister Madeleine, I don’t care about you anymore you liar.”
Dyon smiled to himself, lightly stroking Ri’s hair and shifting back to her side, “Madeleine is in the top 20. I’m a lucky man.”
Because this was Madeleine’s second campaign, her accumulated merits had gained her a higher rank.
Every year, for every new campaign, some would retire and give up their high spots, allowing the young to slide upwards. Thus resulting in a natural cycle that balanced accumulated merit, and new merit.
Ri rolled her eyes at the grin on Dyon’s face as the elevator came to a steady stop.
The truth was, they didn’t need to talk about Dyon’s ranking… The answer was already clear to them.
Even if you ignored Dyon’s actions afterward, he had been directly responsible for the death of four hundred thousand enemy warriors in a single sweeping action. He had been the main reason the lotus alliance even survived for so to begin with.
But then, there was another even more important point…
Dyon had done something no one in modern history had done… He conquered Epistemic Tower. Alone.